


One Final Chance

by Dragonlover2006



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, I couldn't think of any main character Windclan cats who've been introduced recently, I'm too scared to write romance, Into the Wild Thunderclan is way too small, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Plenty of cats who aren't supposed to be siblings becoming siblings, So Sedgewhisker got the job, Some of the weirdest relationship tags, Some of them are just side characters, They're all friends because they get sent to random clans, Will lots of friendships be ok?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:35:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25971451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonlover2006/pseuds/Dragonlover2006
Summary: When the Dark Forest defeats the clans in the Great Battle, almost every cat is killed. Starclan is fading fast, but it still has one more trick up it's sleeve. Thirteen cats, including the four leaders, are sent back to stop Tigerclaw before he can rise to power. The problem is: the Dark Forest has the same idea. Time Travel fic.
Relationships: Brambleclaw & Reedwhisker, Briarlight & Sedgewhisker, Firestar & Feathertail, Firestar & Mistystar & Onestar & Blackstar, Lionblaze & Rowanclaw, Mistystar & Stonefur, Stonefur & Feathertail, Tawnypelt & Feathertail
Comments: 18
Kudos: 41





	1. Time Travel

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. This is the first time I've had two unfinished stories up at once, so updates might not be too regular. It most likely won't be abandoned, though, so don't worry.  
> Disclaimer- I don't own Warrior Cats.

Firestar groaned as he sat up. He was lying on a hard surface which didn’t feel like his den. Had he been so tired the day before that he hadn’t put any moss in his nest? Maybe he should make that an apprentice duty. It wasn’t like him to make apprentices do duties like that, but the fact that he was aching all over made him eager to reduce the possibility of it happening again.

Firestar scrambled to his feet when the events of the battle came flooding back. Tigerstar was dead! Had the battle ended, or was he still needed? Was Thunderclan safe?

He was in a strange, unfamiliar starlit clearing. Everything seemed to have a blue tint to it, like he was in-

“Are we in Starclan?” a voice asked behind him.

He turned around to see Mistystar was also dragging herself to her feet. Beside her, Onestar and Blackstar were still unconscious.

Mistystar padded towards him, “did you lose your last life, too?” she asked.

He nodded silently.

“Then we must be,” she said, looking around.

Firestar felt panic rise up inside him. He had defeated Tigerstar, but there were still hundreds of Dark Forest cats who wanted to destroy his clan. Would they succeed? He wanted more than anything to continue fighting by his clanmates’ sides.

“We failed,” Mistystar said, bowing her head, “the Dark Forest won.”

Firestar realised that the Riverclan leader did not know what had happened, “Tigerstar’s dead,” he told her, “that’s got to count for something.”

Hope lit up in her eyes, “he’s dead? Then maybe we didn’t lose after all!”

“Maybe,” Firestar agreed, although he was doubtful.

“Who’s dead?” Firestar turned to see that Onestar had woken up.

“Tigerstar,” Mistystar told him.

Onestar nodded, “that’s good. Where are we?”

“Starclan,” explained Firestar, “presumably we’re also dead.”

“ _What?”_ Blackstar had woken up.

They were all awake. Maybe now they would find out how the battle went.

“You are in Starclan,” he swung around to see that quite a few Starclan cats were gathered behind him. His breath caught as he recognised Bluestar, as well as Whitestorm and… Brambleclaw? He fought back a wail of panic. Who would lead Thunderclan if both the leader _and_ the deputy were dead?

Bluestar strode forward, flanked by a couple of other cats, some of whom Firestar recognised. He saw Swiftpaw and Runningwind among the ranks. The faces he had not seen for so long sent tingles of excitement down his spine.

“Stonefur?” Mistystar gasped. Firestar followed her gaze to see the previous Riverclan deputy beside Bluestar. The cat shot his sister a friendly smile, but said nothing.

Firestar looked the cats over again, leading him to realise that all of their deaths had something to do with Tigerstar, if the ones he recognised from the living cats had died in the battle, which he assumed they had. He narrowed his eyes, wondering why that was.

Bluestar looked solemn, “the Dark Forest has decimated the clans,” she told them.

Firestar’s eyes widened. Exactly how many cats had died?

Bluestar went on, “there is one cat who is responsible for the events leading up to this disaster,” she paused, “Tigerstar,” the cats surrounding her gave snarls at the sound of the name.

Brambleclaw stepped forward to stand next to her. Firestar looked at his deputy sadly, _it should have been me talking to you from Starclan,_ he thought bitterly, _you should be leader now._

As if sensing his thoughts, Brambleclaw ducked his head, “I’m sorry, Firestar. I was attacked by several Dark Forest cats and they overpowered me,” he said.

“You don’t need to apologise,” Firestar said.

Bluestar flicked her tail to regain their attention. She spoke in a remarkably calm voice, although Firestar could clearly see the pain behind her eyes, “Tigerstar was our doom. But if he could have been stopped earlier, then the clans might have stood a chance. He would never have committed the evils he did, and may not have even gone to the Dark Forest.”

There wasn’t much point in theorising on what could have happened. Firestar wondered if Bluestar was _trying_ to make him feel bad. He _was_ one of Tigerstar’s opponents, and there was more that he could have done back then.

Bluestar continued, “Starclan has the power to reincarnate cats with their memories, but there are a few… conditions that need to be met.”

Firestar hardly heard the last part of the sentence. The first part sent him reeling back in shock. Starclan could send him back? He could fix _all_ of the mistakes he’d made? It almost seemed too good to be true. But when he searched, he could find no lie in Bluestar’s eyes. Besides, the previous Thunderclan leader was above making light of such a terrible situation.

“Conditions like what?” asked Mistystar.

It was Brambleclaw who answered, “the cat who is being sent back must have died nine times. In other words, they must be a leader.”

That wasn’t a problem. Firestar could pretty confidently say that he’d died nine times, since he had been given nine lives and was now dead.

“And they must have died recently. Which means our options are limited to you four,” Bluestar spoke.

Brambleclaw’s tail twitched, “you had the power to send Cinderpelt back without her memories, and she isn’t a leader. You could send more cats.”

“Brambleclaw, we’ve been through this,” Bluestar argued, “if we send too many cats, the Thunderclan nursery would be far too full.”

“ _Thunderclan_ nursery?” Onestar asked incredulously.

“Tigerclaw started in Thunderclan,” Bluestar shrugged, “it only makes sense for you to be sent there.”

To Firestar’s relief and surprise, Onestar remained silent, only his twitching tail betraying his annoyance.

“But surely we could all be sent to our original clans,” Mistystar spoke up, “and Brambleclaw could be sent back with Firestar.”

There was a pause. Whitestorm then said, “it’s an idea, Bluestar.”

Bluestar growled, “we need the cats who properly remember what happened in one place. That way Tigerclaw can be stopped before he can do too much damage. Besides, we can’t put kits in Shadowclan or Windclan at the time we’re planning to send them back. And not much to do with Tigerstar happens in Riverclan until later on.”

By ‘we can’t put kits in Shadowclan or Windclan’, Firestar assumed she was referring to the whole ‘Brokenstar thing’.

Onestar had a suggestion, “then why don’t you send some other cats into the other clans as a sort of ‘failsafe’? I don’t know much about reincarnation, but surely the memories could be activated somehow. Especially if they’re in a time that they have already experienced.”

Bluestar murmured, “and if they die, they just re-join Starclan,” she gave the four leaders a small smile, “that could work,” she said. She turned to the cats following her, “and what does the rest of Starclan think?” she asked.

A few cats looked nervous, but most of them nodded.

Reedwhisker stepped forward, “I’ll go back as well.”

The next to stand was Stonefur, “I don’t care which clan you send me to. I just want to see Tigerstar defeated once and for all.”

All in all, they got 9 volunteers. Reedwhisker, Stonefur, Sedgewhisker, Tawnypelt, Briarlight, Rowanclaw, Brambleclaw, Lionblaze and Feathertail.

“But Stonefur hasn’t died recently,” pointed out Mistystar.

Bluestar shook her head, “that only means that he can’t be sent back with his memories,” she said.

Mistystar had one more point to make, “some of us have past selves who were alive back then. Are you going to make us look different?”

As Firestar swayed on his feet and began to get swallowed up by darkness, Bluestar said, “no, we don’t need to make you look different to your past selves. We just need to make your past selves look different to you.”

…

Thankfully, the cats of Starclan didn’t given them their memories until well after they were reborn. Firestar was not keen on the idea of being reduced to a mewling kit entirely dependent on its mother. Even if he were, he was pretty sure the others would not be.

The old Thunderclan nursery was exactly how he remembered it. It was a little too bright to get a good look around, but he could see the edges. He could also see that he had two littermates.

Wondering who they were, he gave each of them a sniff.

 _That’s Mistystar,_ he realised when he looked at the blue she-kit, _and that’s… Feathertail?_

He was now the brother of Feathertail and Mistystar. One of those cats was the leader of a rival clan, and the other had been his best friend’s long-dead daughter.

 _This isn’t weird at all,_ he thought sarcastically.

He remembered that they wouldn’t have their memories yet, and instinct made him realise that it wasn’t a good idea to tell them. It would be hard enough getting the other three leaders plus himself to not give away the secret. It was better for everyone involved if they didn’t know yet.

He twisted around again, wondering who his new mother was. It took him a while to get into the correct position to identify the cat lying beside him and his new littermates, but he eventually managed it.

The cat lying on her side was a cat who looked very much like Whitefur. He hadn’t seen the queen in a while and wasn’t sure he could confidently identify her smell, but after thinking for a while he came to the conclusion that there weren’t many other she-cats with a white pelt who would be alive right now.

All the wriggling he’d been doing had stirred the white queen, and she raised her head to look at her kits. Her eyes widened, “Firekit’s opened his eyes.”

Firekit was not a name Firestar had ever wanted, but he knew better than to demand that it be changed. That would take far too much explaining.

Another voice came from the side of the den, “oh! Let me see!”

Beside Whitefur’s head appeared another familiar face. It was Seedpelt.

Firestar- kit- looked over at the nest Seedpelt had left vacated. There weren’t any kits there, but he could see that her belly was swollen with pregnancy.

_I wonder if some of the other reborn cats will be her kits._

He returned his attention back to Whitefur, who was gazing down with pure joy.

Suddenly he felt Whitefur let out a purr, “looks like I beat you, Seedpelt.”

Seedpelt purred as well, “my kits aren’t even born yet, Whitefur.”

Firekit decided that this conversation was not of interest to him and lay his head back down on his paws. This got adoring purrs from the two queens, and he flicked back his ears to drown them out.

He couldn’t _wait_ to be apprenticed.


	2. New Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out exactly where our thirteen cats have ended up. Also known as me creating problems that I'm going to have trouble solving later in the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I don't own Warriors.

“Ow,” Featherkit complained as Mistykit gently batted her ears. Firekit knew that the former Riverclan leader was trying to be gentle, but might have ended up hitting her ‘sister’ a little too hard.

“Mistykit, play nice,” chided Whitefur. Mistykit gave her ‘mother’ a small glare and whined, “but I hardly touched her.”

Firekit could see in his friend’s eyes that acting like a proper kit was infuriating for her, but she did so anyway. He himself was currently lying off to the side in a way that wasn’t so kit-like because he was trying to think.

Seven cats had been sent back to Thunderclan. Seven of the original thirteen. The four leaders, as well as Feathertail, Tawnypelt and Stonefur. But Brambleclaw wasn’t here. Why had they sent Riverclan and Shadowclan cats to Thunderclan?

He knew the answer, of course. At least, he did in Stonefur’s case. There were several reasons why Starclan could have decided to send him. Some of them made sense.

One of them involved a certain former Thunderclan leader’s temptation to give her two kits a chance to grow up in her home clan.

If that was the reason Bluestar had decided to separate him and Brambleclaw, then Firestar was going to have some words to say to the blue-furred cat when he next died.

_When I next die? What an odd sentence!_

A yelp caused his attention to go back to the other kits. Featherkit stood up from where she had fallen with a hiss, “you just can’t be nice, can you?” she snarled dramatically before storming off to sit next to Tawnykit. Stonekit gave her ears a reassuring lick.

“She wasn’t trying to hurt you,” he assured her. Firekit blinked. Stonefur had died protecting Feathertail in their past life. Were memories of that time starting to seep through into his mind?

 _That’s not what it is,_ Firekit told himself firmly, _he’s just being nice to her._

Bristling, Mistykit stalked over to Firekit, “I don’t believe we have to put up with this,” she said, softly enough that they had no chance of being overheard. He grunted in agreement.

Mistykit glanced over at Stonekit, “do you think we should tell them?” she asked.

“Remember what Bluestar said. They’re a failsafe. If too many cats have memories of a past life, someone is bound to get suspicious. Especially if some of them don’t play along with the act,” Firekit answered.

“I know, I just… want my brother back, I guess,” Mistykit admitted, looking at her paws.

“He’s right there,” Firekit nodded towards Stonekit, who was still next to Featherkit.

“But it’s not the same,” Mistykit growled, “I want the old Stonefur back. The one who was Riverclan’s deputy.”

He risked a purr of amusement, “that would just make things more complicated. Imagine if Stonekit acted as weird around Blackkit as Blackkit acts around Stonekit!” Firekit remembered the moment Blackkit had found out who exactly he was going to be working alongside. It was like he had seen a ghost. Firekit hadn’t even thought Blackkit was capable of emotions such as guilt, but even the best cats get proven wrong sometimes.

Mistykit snorted, the tension in her face disappearing slightly as she pictured the scenario.

But it soon came back, “it should be him who got his memories,” she said, “he should have been the one who was clan leader.”

 _Really? Now you have some sort of mental crisis? I thought you had this sorted out._ Instead of saying that, Firekit searched for a gentler response, “it wasn’t his destiny.”

“But it was. It was taken from him,” Mistykit began to stare at something in the distance. It took Firekit a moment to realise that she was glaring at the former Shadowclan leader, who was sitting a few tail-lengths away, near Seedpelt.

Blackkit caught her gaze, glanced at Stonefur, and then looked furtively away.

 _Yes, I can see why Stonefur having his memories back_ might _cause more problems than it would solve._

_Oh, Bluestar, what were you thinking? This is the worst possible combination you could have picked._

…

“Bramblekit!”

Bramblekit didn’t immediately look up.

“Bramblekit!” his mother poked her head around the den entrance, her face a mask of exasperation, “you can’t stay in here all day, Bramblekit.”

“But I can’t leave him,” Bramblekit gently nosed his brother, Reedkit, who remained unresponsive.

“Reedkit will be fine,” Bramblekit wondered if he was imagining the hint of sadness in Streamshine’s voice, “Mudfur’s looking after him.”

“I know there’s something really wrong,” Bramblekit hissed, “I’m nearly an apprentice. You can _stop lying to me_ now.”

Streamshine dropped her gaze, “Mudfur’s taking care of him,” she repeated.

Bramblekit turned back to look at Reedkit, “but what if he wakes up?”

“Mudfur needs space in his den, Bramblekit,” Streamshine insisted, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

Bramblekit scowled at her, “but I don’t want to leave him,” he growled.

Streamshine lunged forward and grabbed him by the scruff. She dragged him out of the den, ignoring his feeble attempts to escape. He kept his gaze on his brother’s black pelt until it was forcefully removed from his sight.

From inside the den, Mudfur called, “I’ll tell you both if his condition improves.”

 _But what if he gets worse? Will you tell me then?_ Bramblekit wondered, wriggling as much as he could.

Streamshine managed to get him into the nursery, “sit,” she ordered, placing him in his nest.

He glared at her, tail twitching, “but I want to stay with Reedkit,” he insisted.

“Reedkit will be fine. It’s just a little cough,” she promised.

“That’s not what Mudfur said to you yesterday,” Bramblekit strained to look past his mother and through the entrance to the nursery. He was just about able to see the edge of the medicine den, but the insides were out of his sight.

Streamshine tensed slightly, “you heard that?” she asked uncertainly.

 _I’m nearly six-moons-old. You can’t just decide whether or not I’m able to hear your conversations,_ “I was standing a few tail-lengths away,” he pointed out hotly.

“Yes,” his mother carefully licked her paw and drew it over her ear, “I remember. You were playing hide-and-seek, weren’t you?”

 _Was I?_ Bramblekit thought carefully back to the day Mudfur had told Streamshine about Reedkit’s problem. He remembered he had been playing _something_ with his brother. Reedkit had been called over by Streamshine and Mudfur, and Bramblekit hadn’t wanted to come out from his hiding spot in case it was some kind of trick.

Streamshine seemed to give herself a shake, “Bramblekit, I want you to listen _very_ carefully, do you understand?”

The way she was looking at him made Brambekit gulp nervously, “y-yes, mother.”

“Reedkit is very ill,” she said.

 _I know that,_ he thought angrily.

“But Mudfur is a good medicine cat, and he will be able to get him through this,” she continued.

Bramblekit nodded slowly, wanting to reassure his mother that he understood what she was saying.

“The less you get in Mudfur’s way, the higher the chance of Reedkit surviving. So be a good kit and play with your denmates until you become an apprentice.”

Bramblekit shuddered nervously, “he- he will be better by then, right?”

Streamshine licked his ears in comfort, “I hope so,” she murmured.

…

Briarkit was just two moons old when Shadowclan attacked.

She didn’t remember much, but the other cats said that she was very brave kit and she didn’t cry. They then jokingly added that her mother had thought she was dead. Ashfoot had curled her tail carefully around her two kits and said that it was the most horrifying moment of her life.

She couldn’t remember much about the moors. She had been told about them, of course, but whenever the story was recited, she felt like something about it was… wrong. The cats spoke about it with wistfulness in their eyes, but when she put everything she had been told together to form a picture, wistfulness was not the emotion she felt.

She felt… out of place in a way that she couldn’t quite describe.

And the worst thing was that her strange feelings couldn’t be explained by saying that she had never truly seen the moors. Because when other parts of the forest were described, like, for example, _Thunderclan’s trees,_ Briarkit _did_ get a little bit wistful.

It was not right for a Windclan cat to long for trees, which was why Briarkit tried to push those odd feelings down until they were nothing but a slight disturbance on the surface of her mind. It didn’t work. She still-

“Briarkit! Briarkit!”

Briarkit raised her head groggily, trying to make it seem like she had been asleep the whole time. Sedgekit’s head bounced in front of her. Her sister’s eyes gleamed with excitement. When Briarkit peeked at the small amount of sky she could see from the clan’s den and realised it was the middle of the night, she couldn’t bring herself to match the enthusiasm.

“Wake up!” Sedgekit demanded.

“Why?” Briarkit groaned.

“I want to play with you,” came the explanation.

Briarkit put her paws over her ears as best she could, “Sedgekit! I’m tired,” she complained.

“I spoke to father. He says that we’re going to be excellent warriors and that we’re going to help our clan fight Shadowclan,” she circled Briarkit excitedly, “we need to practice.”

“We’re not apprentices yet,” sighed Briarkit.

“But we can work it out ourselves.”

“But what if we practice and we get moves wrong. We’ll have to unlearn everything we’ve practiced so far,” Briarkit mewed urgently.

Sedgekit gave a half roll of her eyes and snapped, “you worry too much, sis.”

“Sis?” echoed Briarkit. Sedgekit had never used that name for her before.

Sedgekit continued as though she hadn’t spoken, “we need to practice extra hard in case Shadowclan attacks.”

“Leave your sister alone, Sedgekit,” the cool voice of their mother, who had miraculously not woken up so far while they had been speaking, stopped their argument almost instantly. Ashfoot gave Sedgekit a gentle nudge, “she’s sleeping. You don’t need to worry about learning to fight. Tallstar will make you an apprentice when _I_ think you’re ready, and not before.”

Sedgekit turned on her mother, bristling, “but we need to be able to defend ourselves.”

“Leave the defending to me,” Ashfoot sounded like she could barely keep the purr out of her voice as she spoke.

From the other side of the grey queen, Morningflower stirred, her paws twitching and her tail lifting slightly from where it was curled around her single kit, Gorsekit.

Ashfoot sighed, “look, you’ve woken Morningflower,” she chided, “go back to sleep.”

Briarkit dutifully curled back up and tucked her head under her tail.

Apparently, it was too much to ask for Sedgekit to do the same, “if you won’t practice with me, I’ll do it by myself,” she got back up onto her paws. Briarkit watched from under her tail in alarm as her sister bounded to the edge of the den and yowled at the top of her voice, “SHADOWCLAN WILL RUE THE DAY THEY CHASED OUT MY CLAN.”

“Sedgekit!” Ashfoot sounded horrified, “come here! It’s the middle of the night! Everyone’s sleeping!”

The hisses of confusion and annoyance from the sleeping Windclan cats quickly turned to amusement as the tiny kit squeaked her anger at them.

Sedgekit returned to her family, tail tucked between her legs, and curled up close to Briarkit. Briarkit, feeling bad for her, drew her tongue over her ears to cheer her up, “I’m sure everyone will have forgotten about that in the morning,” she promised, quietly enough so that Ashfoot didn’t hear.

Sedgekit was silent for so long that Briarkit thought she had fallen back to sleep. Then, “I sure hope so, sis, I sure hope so.”

…

Lionkit frowned and tried to peek out from where he was huddled underneath his mother’s tail. The queen was curled anxiously around him and Rowankit as if she were afraid the pacing Shadowclan leader would eat them.

Brokenstar was, as he called it, ‘inspecting the kits’ to search for ones who could have potential to be apprentices. Lionkit was trying to stand up tall in order to seem more impressive to his clan’s leader, but his mother seemed to have other ideas.

“Let me out,” he mewed to Redfur, who gave a soft hiss in response.

The small amount of noise the mother and son had been making during this exchange got the attention of Brokenstar, who turned.

With an expression of amusement that seemed somehow forced, like he was trying not to growl, Brokenstar turned, “Redfur, how am I supposed to inspect the kits if I can’t see them?” he asked.

Redfur shifted uncomfortably and pulled her tail not even a mouse-length away from her kits. Lionkit decided to take matters into his own paws, and he pushed his way out from the fur. He gazed up at the brown cat with eager eyes. ‘Pick me!’ he wanted to shout, ‘pick me’. Instead he focused on adjusting his position to look warrior-like.

A shadow passed over Brokenstar’s eyes and his lips drew back in the start of a snarl. Lionkit didn’t think anyone else noticed, but it made him shuffle his paws uncomfortably. Had he done something wrong? Did Brokenstar hate him now?

When Rowankit finally managed to escape their mother’s grip, Brokenstar’s expression had changed back to neutral, and the only reaction Lionkit’s brother got was a satisfied nod.

“These two will do,” announced Shadowclan’s leader, “I will mentor Lionkit, who will now be known as Lionpaw. Rowanpaw will be mentored by Clawface.”

 _That’s not the correct words to apprentice kits,_ should have been the thoughts that first went through Lionpaw’s mind after Brokenstar had walked away.

 _He’s acting really weird,_ was another thing that Lionpaw could have dwelled on.

But all that Lionpaw could think about was that he was an apprentice. He was the _clan leader’s apprentice._ And Rowankit wasn’t. He gave his brother a mocking look and bounded away to talk to his new mentor, ignoring Redfur’s angry protests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Also, seven characters in Thunderclan might seem like a lot (especially since there's only eight warriors in the original books for some reason), but I feel like there's more stuff I can do with them there.


	3. The Dark Forest came back too!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Firestar discovers that there's something weird about Tigerclaw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Here is another chapter filled with cats forced to act like kits. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Disclaimer- I don't own Warriors. I'm not making any money from this.

One day after Firekit had sort of settled into life in the nursery, Onekit had tried to escape the camp.

Two days after Firekit had sort of settled into life in the nursery, Tawnykit had nearly killed Featherkit by daring her to eat the beak of a large bird.

Three days after Firekit had sort of settled into life in the nursery, Stonekit and Blackkit had had an actual conversation. This was more shocking than both of the previous things combined.

And four days after Firekit had sort of settled into life in the nursery, he found himself face to face with the very cat he was planning to defeat.

Tigerstar was dropping his prey off at the fresh-kill pile when Firekit, chased by a very enthusiastic Featherkit and Tawnykit, went tearing into the centre of the camp. He wasn’t trying his hardest, obviously, but the two were still a reasonable distance behind him.

“Ack!” he had not been looking where he was going in favour of throwing a taunt over his shoulder at his two pursuers, and he managed to crash straight into a fluffy mass.

With a powerful hiss, the thing he had bumped into was pulled away, leaving him scrambling for balance, “what do you think you’re doing?” the cat snarled.

Firekit looked up. He felt the breath leave his body as his gaze met two familiar amber eyes, “Ti-Tiger-” he caught himself just in time.

“I asked you a question,” Tigerclaw- it was Tigerclaw, not Tigerstar. There was no such thing as Tigerstar- reminded him.

“I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Firekit spoke as boldly as he dared.

Tigerclaw narrowed his eyes, some unidentifiable emotion crossing his face. Firekit shuddered. Did Tigerst- claw- Tigerclaw know that they were here to defeat him?

If that were true, the brown tabby gave no hint to it. Instead he grunted, “pay better attention in the future,” and turned back to the pile of food.

As Firekit was breathing a sigh of relief, Featherkit came up behind him.

“Come on,” she urged, gesturing to the nursery with her head. Firekit was all too willing to follow her, but he did give Tigerclaw one final nervous glance. The look in his enemy’s eyes had unnerved him. Was there any way that…? No. Surely not. The Dark Forest couldn’t have the power to send cats back in time like Starclan did. And even if they did, Tigerclaw hadn’t died recently.

 _And he hasn’t died nine times. He’s died 10,_ the logical side of his mind added, remembering his own final battle.

He’d have to talk to the others about that later.

“He creeps me out,” Tawnykit announced when Firekit and Featherkit made their way over to her.

Featherkit tilted her head, “why? He’s a great warrior,” she mewed.

Her friend shrugged, “it’s hard to explain. He reminds me of something,” she glanced over her shoulder, “I can’t think of what it is, but it’s something bad.”

The ominous words rang in Firekit’s head for several moments, but Featherkit shrugged it off easily, “you’ve probably eaten a bad piece of fresh-kill,” she teased light-heartedly.

“Y-yeah,” Firekit forced himself to say. There was no need to make them both suspicious, “Tawnykit, I think you said that about Darkstripe a couple of days ago.”

“They both give me the creeps,” Tawnykit growled.

Featherkit laughed, “I think we need to take you to Spottedleaf,” she glanced sideways when Firekit froze at the sound of the name, “Firekit? Firekit, you’ve gone all weird.”

“S-sorry,” he muttered, looking away. _So much for not making them suspicious._

Tawnykit purred with amusement, “looks like it’s not just me who needs to see a medicine cat.”

“Why? Because I stopped for a moment?” Firekit demanded.

“No, you’ve been off for this entire conversation,” Tawnykit retorted as they walked through the nursery entrance.

“Oh, wow,” Featherkit drawled, “this _entire_ conversation? His whole brain must be going mushy!” she unexpectedly batted Firekit on the head. Some of her fur got in his eye and he let out an irritated hiss.

“Ooo. Sorry,” she apologised.

Anything that Firekit would have responded with would have to wait until later, because they were interrupted by Mistykit’s cool mew, “and where have you three been?” her eyes lingered on Firekit as she spoke.

“You don’t have to be such a bossy- such a bossy-” Tawnykit struggled to find a sufficient word to finish her insult. Her eyes briefly flickered up to the sky in thought before snapping back to glare at her denmate, “such a BOSSY SQUIRREL!”

Featherkit erupted into purrs of amusement. She started to say something, but Firestar couldn’t quite make it out because she cut herself off halfway through and fell onto the ground laughing.

Mistykit sighed, “go away,” she mewed, glaring at the three. Tawnykit huffed and stalked over to another part of the nursery, quickly followed by Feathertail. Firekit lingered for a moment, considering asking her what got her in such a mood, but he quickly followed them when he saw her narrowed eyes.

Tawnykit was lashing her tail from side to side furiously when he got over to her, “what gives her the right to just act like she’s in charge?” she demanded of no-one in particular.

 _Well, she was once Riverclan’s leader,_ Firekit couldn’t say that, so he just shrugged and meowed soothingly, “she’s probably just having a bad day.”

Tawnykit continued to glare over at Mistykit. It got a little awkward, so Firekit didn’t really blame Featherkit for yawning and announcing that she was going to go and hang out with Stonekit.

“I’ll join you,” he decided, glancing at Tawnykit, “are you coming?”

“I think I’ll just sit here for a bit,” Tawnykit told them.

“She’s trying to make a point to Mistykit,” Featherkit hissed in his ear, loud enough for Tawnykit to catch.

“I _am not,”_ she snapped, turning away.

Firekit purred with amusement, “she definitely is,” he clarified.

When Tawnykit aimed a blow at his head with claws unsheathed, he judged it time to go over to someone else.

 _Who knew acting like a kit could be such fun?_ He thought, amused.

“You’re so pathetic,” he heard a mutter from beside him. He flicked an ear at Onekit, annoyed, but decided that responding wasn’t worth the time.

“How are we pathetic?” Featherkit demanded angrily, “come on, Firekit. Let’s go over to the others.”

“I’ll be a second,” the ginger kit promised. Featherkit frowned, making him regret not wanting to go with her, but bounded away happily enough.

When she was out of earshot, Firekit hissed, “you know what’s pathetic, One _star?_ You being so determined to be a complete mouse-brain towards anything Thunderclan-related that you miss out on the chance to stop Tigerstar.”

Onekit snarled at him, “I’m not missing out on the chance to stop Tigerstar,” he snapped.

Firekit glanced around to make sure nobody had overheard him, “keep your voice down,” he hissed. He then sighed, “cats are getting suspicious. _Tigerclaw_ is getting suspicious-”

“You’re the one who _ran into him_ ,” Onekit pointed out.

“-How are we supposed to stop anyone if he knows where we came from?” Firekit continued, “it isn’t that difficult. You don’t even have to- Starclan forbid- actually like anyone. You just need to be nice for once. Is that so hard?”

“You’re not the leader of me,” was the response Firekit got. He shouldn’t really have been surprised. It was the response he had always been given when he brought this up.

He stood, still glaring at Onekit for a moment before lashing his tail and whirling around, “be like that, then.”

He broke into a run after a few seconds, (he definitely _was not_ pretending that he was stomping on Onekit’s face), and made it over to the other ‘kits’ within a few short seconds.

“How did your conversation with my lovely brother go?” Stonekit, who had obviously been watching, asked.

Pushing away the thought of how weird it was to hear _Stonefur_ call _Onestar_ his brother, Firekit purred with amusement and said, “I think he thinks I’m being bossy.”

“I hate him,” announced Featherkit, with all the cheerfulness as if she had been talking about her favourite thing in the world.

This got amused purrs from everyone.

“Well I wouldn’t go that far,” Stonekit admitted, flicking her with his tail.

Firekit purred along with them.

He decided to take the time to casually plan out how he was going to voice his concerns regarding Tigerclaw to the other reborn leaders.

It couldn’t go _that_ badly, surely? The three were very sensible (slightly questionable, but nevertheless true enough), wise (ok maybe not) and good clan leaders who could handle this sort of revelation without reacting explosively.

And maybe they had already come to the same conclusion.

…

“WHAT?”

Firekit was going to go out on a whim and say that this was most likely the first they had heard of Tigerclaw’s suspicious behaviour.

“Will you keep your voice down?” Blackkit snapped irritably, gesturing pointedly at the nursery with his ears.

“Sorry,” Mistykit muttered, ducking her head embarrassedly.

Firekit scuffed nervously at the dirt in front of him, suddenly worried that he wouldn’t be getting back to the nursery with his ears intact today.

They were awkwardly huddled behind the nursery in an attempt to be secretive. They had been holding little meetings most nights, in which they tried to slightly unravel the mysteries of how in Starclan’s name they were going to save _everyone_ from Tigerclaw and the Dark Forest, as well as find the other ‘failsafes’, stop Bluestar from going mad, and get everyone back into their rightful clans.

“I said, I think Tigerclaw is-”

“I know what you said!” Mistykit wasn’t any quieter this time, which earned her a heated glare from Blackkit, “but how-” she spluttered for a moment while she tried to come to terms with the revelation, “how could Starclan have let this happen?” she ended with a wail.

“I’m not sure,” Firekit told her, “I don’t even know if I’m right. It’s just, the way he looked at me when he saw me. It was like he already hated me.”

“Maybe he was just annoyed that you bumped into him,” Onekit suggested desperately.

“I don’t know…” Firekit looked away.

“We don’t know anything for sure, yet,” Blackkit said.

Firekit nodded slowly, “maybe I’m just being paranoid.”

But none of them believed that, not even Onekit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I also wanted to thank everyone who has read this far for all the support I've got on the first couple of chapters. I've never gotten this many kudos on a story within two chapters.
> 
> Thanks. It means a lot to me.


	4. This is bad...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Firestar and the other leaders have a little discussion with Starclan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. Sorry about the long wait... and the incredibly short chapter. I've been busy with homework over the last few days. I realised 3 days ago that I had completely forgotten about the Geography project that was supposed to take me 18 hours over the whole summer holidays. The fact that I realised this four days before the end of the summer holdiays does not reflect well on my organisation skills. :,( Oops. And on top of that, I had a load of other stuff that I'd been putting off. I have not had a fun week.
> 
> But I'm pretty much finished with that, and due to the fact that I have been desperately typing away at the keyboard for the past two hours, I have come up with a chapter for each of my stories.
> 
> It's not short because I got bored, I promise. Writing this chapter was the most fun I've had for a few days. I just couldn't think of anything to add to it without it seeming like filler... I'll try and update again soon. Hopefully the next chapter will be from someone else's point of view other than Firestar's.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors.

Firekit- no, no. He was Firestar here- was rather sick of waking up in Starclan. It had happened a lot in his past life, and he had thought that now, since Starclan were trying to be inconspicuous, it would happen less often.

But _no._ Starclan liked to just bother him whenever they had a problem.

Well, usually they just bothered him. Right now, Firestar was standing with the other three leaders as well. The ‘being constantly bothered by dead cats epidemic’ was spreading.

“We think the Dark Forest managed to send some cats back with you,” was the first thing he had heard when he became aware.

“Brilliant,” he had responded with as much sarcastic enthusiasm as he could muster, as though he hadn’t managed to figure this out several days before them. As if he hadn’t been stressed out of his mind trying to come up with a solution, with zero input from these dead cats who presumably had all the time in the world on their paws, “so what are we going to do? Murder them?”

Bluestar, who had been the one to deliver the message, had sighed and looked away, “I don’t know.”

Firestar got the impression that she was choosing to ignore the fact that his fur was bristling angrily.

The four leaders glanced around at the enormous number of cats gathered. Firestar couldn’t tell if Bluestar had managed to time-travel the _entirety of Starclan,_ or if this was the old Starclan, the one which had been around when he had originally defeated Tigerstar.

Onestar voiced this question, “how come so many of Starclan are here?”

“We came back in time with you,” Bluestar explained, “but we can only be seen by cats who came from the future.”

The leaders nodded. Firestar decided to just go along with it.

“Is the Tigerclaw I accidentally bumped into the one from the Dark Forest?” asked Firestar.

Bluestar nodded, “we think some of the Dark Forest cats came back fully grown, killed their past selves, and somehow managed to take their places.

Firestar flinched. That was… incredibly dark. And confusing. Surely if they killed their past selves, they would disappear…

This was making his head hurt.

He had a sudden vision of an evil version of himself bursting out of the trees and ripping him to shreds. This made him look down at his paws for a few seconds. Mistystar shot him a concerned look.

 _Great. Now she thinks I’m up to something,_ he thought.

Bluestar was still talking, “others would have come back as kits, like you did, so you need to keep an eye out for kits who didn’t exist originally. You need to be very careful,” she looked like she was barely resisting the urge to pace, “try not to get yourselves alone with any cat who could be from the Dark Forest until you’re sure you can defend yourselves in your new forms.”

“Or alone at all,” added Whitestorm, who was standing by his leader’s side.

“You never know when they could be planning something,” Bluestar agreed.

 _Very ominous,_ Firestar remarked to himself, _but not all that helpful._

“How are we supposed to never be alone at all?” Onestar demanded, “we can’t go _everywhere_ together.”

“And the Bluestar of this time is planning to give Firestar Darkstripe as a mentor,” Whitestorm put in.

Firestar felt his spirits sinking, “I can deal with Darkstripe,” he assured them as confidently as he felt able to.

Bluestar shifted her paws, “Firestar, you’re half the size of your older self. Darkstripe could rip you to shreds, even if you have memories of fighting moves.”

Firestar sighed, “I’ll make sure that whenever I go out of camp, there’s another cat with me and Darkstripe.”

Bluestar nodded, satisfied, “let’s hope he doesn’t try anything with another warrior around,” she agreed.

“You four should go,” Whitestorm told them.

As the dream began to fade, Firestar saw Mistystar give him a meaningful look.

…

Firekit had barely opened his eyes before Mistykit was gathering the others to go to their hiding place.

“Couldn’t this wait until the morning?” yawned Onekit when they were settled down.

Mistykit glared at him, “of course not. Firekit’s getting apprenticed to Darkstripe tomorrow. We need to figure out whether or not he’s one of the time-travelling Dark Forest cats.”

“Of course he is,” Firekit said, “he was in the Dark Forest, and he’s here now.”

“Yes,” Mistykit agreed, “but Tigerstar never had a very high opinion of Darkstripe, did he?”

“I think he _is_ from the Dark forest, but he hasn’t got his memories,” theorised Blackkit.

Onekit nodded in agreement, “he’s very loyal to Tigerstar. I don’t think Tigerstar would leave him behind. But Tigerstar doesn’t need him to remember what happened. He was loyal to him in this time, too.”

Firekit nodded, “and from what I heard in Starclan, it takes more power to send back memories compared to just cats. I think they would have chosen the cats to send back with memories very carefully. Tigerstar, maybe Mapleshade…” he paused, his eyes widening, “Brokenstar.”

“Brokenstar would definitely have been one of them. He was one of the Dark Forest’s leaders,” agreed Mistystar.

Firekit shuddered, “and two of the cats Starclan sent went to his clan. I hope he doesn’t recognise them.”

“We can’t afford to worry about that right now,” Mistykit cut in, her voice icy, “we need to concentrate on not letting you get killed by Darkstripe. If you die, we lose our inside Thunderclan knowledge.”

 _It’s very reassuring to know that you only care about me for my memories_ , _Mistykit,_ Firekit barely refrained from saying. Instead, he sighed and promised, “I will be careful, Mistykit. I won’t let him take me into the forest unless another apprentice and mentor are with us.

“Good,” she said.

“Can we go sleep now?” asked Onekit.

Mistykit nodded, and the meeting was dismissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and especially thank you if you stuck with me for my longer than usual update time.
> 
> I'm back to school tomorrow, so I'm afraid the updates might start slowing down. I am terrible at getting chapters posted quickly during the school term.
> 
> If you noticed any major mistakes or something that didn't make sense, you can blame it on my long three days of suffering. Please leave a review so I can fix it before I make any more chapters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOODNESS I am SO SORRY! I was like, 'well, I've been working quite hard at school and homework's been building up and I deserve a break' and SUDDENLY it's been like a MONTH and I haven't even STARTED on the next chapter.
> 
> Really, I am very sorry and I hope no-one's forgotten about this story in the entire month- wait... has it been nearly two months? Oh no- it hasn't been updated.
> 
> This chapter is surprisingly short, considering the ridiculous amount of time it took me to come up with it. I'm sorry about that, too. It's from Featherkit's point of view, which I guess is a bonus.
> 
> Also, a bit of exciting news. The next chapter might be the Sunningrocks chapter. 'Might' being the keyword. It could also end up being the first part of the Sunningrocks chapter, because there's a lot to get through with that chapter.

Featherkit was tingling with excitement. Today was the day that she and her littermates were made apprentices. She kind of felt guilty that she was leaving her best friend, Stonekit, behind in the nursery, but being a half-moon older than him meant that she had to.

"Are you excited?" she asked her sister, Mistykit for want of conversation.

Her blue-furred sister snapped her head around at her irritably, "for the last time, Featherkit, _no."_

"Mouse-brain," Featherkit muttered under her breath with the intention of being heard.

Suddenly, Firekit came tearing out of the nursery as if a whole pack of dogs was chasing him, "Starclan help me!" he yowled, terror in his eyes.

"What's wrong," Mousefur, one of the warriors, asked, starting to get up.

She sat straight back down again when Whitefur followed Firekit in the same manner, "Firekit, _come here._ NOW!"

Mousefur grunted, amusement in her eyes, "Firekit, you had me thinking that a fox had gotten into the nursery."

"Sorry, Mousefur," Whitefur exclaimed, catching up with Firekit and grabbing his scruff in her jaws.

"Put me down," Firekit yelped, thrashing angrily. Whitefur ignored him (of course) and dragged him over to sit next to his littermates. She began to lick his fur with rhythmic strokes, slamming a paw down on his tail when he tried to make another escape.

"You sure do know how to make a fool of yourself, don't you?" Mistykit muttered to him in her usual grumpy, fun-ruining manner.

"Thanks," Firekit responded brightly.

Whitefur purred with amusement. She finished cleaning Firekit and regarded all three kits with disapproving eyes, "you three all look like I've dragged you through a bush backwards."

"Well…" Firekit started accusingly.

Whitefur ignored him, "now sit there and _do not move a muscle_ until the ceremony starts. If I see _one mark_ on your pelts that isn't there now when you get your apprentice names, I will have you staying in the nursery for another _six moons_."

Featherkit cleverly deduced that Firekit had given Whitefur a lot of trouble while they were waiting for them to come out of the nursery.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting," Bluestar's yowl had the whole of Thunderclan padding to sit underneath the huge rock at the centre of the camp.

The sheer number of cats crouched around her took Featherkit's breath away. Beside her, though, she could see Mistykit watching the proceedings with an impatient glare.

 _Nothing seems to bother her,_ Featherkit thought, begrudgingly admiring her sister's composure.

When everyone was gathered, Bluestar let out another call, "it's time for one of my favourite ceremonies. Mistykit, step forward."

 _Of course she gets to go first,_ Featherkit thought angrily.

Mistykit strode confidently forward with a cool indifference that Featherkit could never hope to match and stopped, staring up at her leader.

"Mistykit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed," Bluestar announced.

Featherkit found her gaze drawn to the other apprentices; Sandpaw, Dustpaw, Ravenpaw, Greypaw and Tawnypaw. Tawnypaw caught her eyes and gave an encouraging smile. Featherkit purred. She hadn't seen much of her friend since the older apprentice had left the nursery.

"From this day on until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Mistypaw. Your mentor will be Mousefur. I hope Mousefur passes down all she knows to you," she turned to the brown warrior, who looked a little nervous, "Mousefur, you are ready for an apprentice. You have shown yourself to be strong and loyal. You will be mentor to Mistypaw, and I expect you to pass down all you know to her."

Mousefur and Mistypaw touched noses, and then Bluestar called Firekit forward. His mentor turned out to be Darkstripe. She noticed that Firepaw didn't look too pleased about this for some reason.

Then it was her turn. She could barely listen to what Bluestar was saying because she was so nervous, but when she heard Willowpelt's name, she could guess who her mentor was.

Willowpelt touched noses with her, smiling warmly, and Featherpaw felt her nerves fade away somewhat. She hoped Willowpelt was usually this nice.

Bluestar dismissed the meeting and leaped down from the Highrock. Featherpaw bounded over to Whitefur, who was walking towards her three kits.

"Congratulations," her mother said, touching her nose to Featherpaw's head.

"Are we going outside the camp, now?" Featherpaw asked. She shot a glance at Mistypaw in the hopes that the exciting prospect might have made her crack a smile. But nope, Mistypaw's dumb face was as impassive as ever. In fact, she looked rather bored.

 _Well, it'll make it all the more special when I finally get to see my sister smile when she has her warrior ceremony,_ Featherpaw told herself desperately, _She's got to smile then, surely. I'll only have to wait around six moons_

_Yay!_

"Why don't you go over and ask your mentors what you'll be doing today?" suggested Whitefur brightly. Featherpaw nodded eagerly and ran over to Willowpelt, not even pausing to see what her littermates did. As much as she loved her brother, getting Willowpelt to take her out of camp would come first for today.

"Yes, we're going to be heading out of camp today," Willowpelt said before Featherpaw had even opened her mouth to speak. Her mentor's eyes glittered in amusement, "I'll be giving you a tour of the territory."

"Will you show me the other clans?" Featherpaw asked eagerly.

"I'll show you the borders," Willowpelt promised.

"Will we see a patrol? Will we get to fight them?" Featherpaw was aware that she wasn't really giving Willowpelt time to answer, but the questions kept popping into her head and she couldn't help herself.

"Hopefully not," Willowpelt said.

Featherpaw bounded ahead, "I was the best at fighting," this was a complete lie, "I _always_ beat Firekit and Tawnykit," this was also a complete lie.

Willowpelt nodded encouragingly, "I'm sure you're a great fighter. But if we meet a border patrol from another clan, we can't just fight them. You're not trained."

Featherpaw huffed angrily, "I _am_ trained," she insisted.

Willowpelt sighed, "well we need to train you more."

Featherpaw paused nervously at the camp entrance, staring into the trees. It was so _huge._ And this was just what she could see from the camp.

Suddenly apprehensive, she turned back to look at Willowpelt, "it's so big. There's so many trees!" she exclaimed, trying desperately to put her thoughts into words.

"It might seem big now, but you'll soon get used to it," Willowpelt meowed encouragingly.

"Hey, Featherpaw!"

Featherpaw shifted her gaze from Willowpelt to the approaching Firepaw. Willowpelt also turned around to see who it was, "hello," she greeted, "aren't you supposed to be with Darkstripe?"

"He's just coming," Firepaw meowed, turning and sweeping his gaze over the camp in search of his dark-furred mentor, "can we go with you?"

"Has Darkstripe agreed?" Willowpelt asked sternly, and Featherpaw guessed she had seen Firepaw's performance before his ceremony and knew he was a troublemaker.

"U-uh," stuttered Firepaw.

"He hasn't agreed, has he?" Featherpaw snorted, walking up to stand closer to her brother.

"He went to get something. He said he'd be right back," Firepaw hurried through his explanation, the words stumbling over each other to get out of his mouth, "I saw you leaving and had the genius idea of asking to come with you," he glanced furtively around, "if we leave now, we can be back by sun-down and he'll _never know."_

Featherpaw snorted, "no, it's not like he _has a memory_ or anything. Do you really think he'll forget that he has an apprentice for an _entire day?"_

Firepaw looked uncertain, and Featherpaw got the strange feeling that something was off with him. It happened a lot, so she once again dismissed it as Firepaw being weird and dropped the matter.

"It was quite a recent development," her brother pointed out, "are you sure he'd really mind that much?"

Willowpelt gave an eloquent sigh, "we have to wait for him, Firepaw. Why don't you go find him? Featherpaw and I will be right here."

Featherpaw groaned, "but I want to go out of camp now," she whined, "why don't we train together tomorrow, Firepaw?"

There was a flash of hurt in his eyes, but he just ducked his head and said, "fine. I guess I'll wait for him at the camp entrance."

Willowpelt nodded approvingly, "don't worry," she told Firepaw, touching her nose to his ear, "you'll get to train with your sister some other time. As warriors, you won't be able to do _everything_ together."

"See you later, Firepaw," Featherpaw said brightly. Willowpelt gave her a reproachful look, but stalked out of camp with a gesture to her apprentice to follow without saying anything.

Featherpaw struggled with guilty thoughts for a moment before she was able to get back into the eager mindset she had been in before Firepaw had decided to go all 'sad little adorable brother' on her and ruin it.

"Where are we going first?" she asked.

"I thought I could show you around the general area surrounding the camp," Willowpelt responded, enthusiasm leaking into her own voice, "first I'll show you some of the things to avoid. How about we visit Snakerocks?"

"Snakerocks?" Featherpaw shuddered. Her mother had told her about that place. She wasn't frightened of much, but creatures that could kill you in one bite before you even realised they were there were unfortunately one of her only fears. But Whitefur and Seedpelt had lectured her while she was in the nursery about the importance of listening to senior warriors, so she shrugged, "Alright."

Willowpelt bounded through the trees at a pace Featherpaw had trouble matching. Her muscles burned, but she determinedly kept herself from complaining. If she was to be a warrior, she would have to get used to this kind of stuff.

A _warrior!_ She was going to be a _warrior!_ The thought lent strength into her legs and soon she was following Willowpelt in leaps. The trees were flying past her, and she once again was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the forest that surrounded her. It was endless, it must be. At one point, the trees even seemed to clear before a massive tree came into view, so big that Featherpaw was sure if it fell, it would crush the camp.

"Stop!" Willowpelt ordered, lifting her tail as a signal. Featherpaw skidded to a halt and scanned the area in front of her.

Snakerocks was a large pile of boulders. It looked rather fun to climb, but by the way her mentor was looking at it, that wouldn't be the best idea.

"That's Snakerocks," Willowpelt said unnecessarily, gesturing to it with her tail, "if you ever go near it to hunt, I want you to be _extremely careful_ not to get bitten by any of the adders," the intensity of her gaze frightened Featherpaw, "cats have died from lack of caution."

Featherpaw twitched an ear. Suddenly, the forest wasn't seeming as exciting and friendly as it had before. If she could be killed just by stepping on the wrong rock, what else could be lurking in the depths?

Suddenly, the forest wasn't seeming inviting at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a bit of an abrupt end, I know... Hopefully Firepaw's very unusual behaviour will be explained in the next chapter, along with... every other weird thing that has happened.
> 
> Thanks for reading. The next update could be just as long as the last, or I might have actually learnt something from that little mistake and update faster.
> 
> Who knows?


	6. The Sunningrocks Incident - Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Firepaw goes on a little mission with Redtail, Tigerclaw, a very out-of-character Darkstripe, and... you know what? I don't even know who else is there. This is how bad a writer I am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... hello. It's been a while. This is the Sunningrocks chapter! Yay. I rewrote this several times and I'm still not happy with it. Darkstripe's a little out of character, and it is far too short (especially since I've had three whole months ). Hope you enjoy it anyway! :)

Firepaw wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to do. He had tried to persuade Willowpelt to take him with Featherpaw, but of course that didn’t work when the former Riverclan cat had been too excited to wait for him.

Now, it seemed that he was going to be on patrol alone with a murderer.

He stood by the entrance to the camp for a few moments after Feathertail and Willowpelt disappeared from view, staring in the direction they had taken in dismay.

“There you are!” he was broken from his musings by his new mentor, who he had managed to evade after the ceremony by saying he was going to say goodbye to Seedpelt and the other litter. He had not done that, mainly because he didn’t want to have to deal with Blackkit and Onekit right now, or be involved in another of their useless arguments. Instead, he had chased after his silver-furred sister and ended up here.

Darkstripe narrowed his eyes in slight suspicion, “what are you doing next to the camp entrance?” he asked. Firepaw desperately wanted to use this as an excuse to accuse him of being a reborn Dark Forest cat, but it was honestly quite reasonable for a mentor to be concerned if their apprentice was apparently about to run away from camp.

“I was talking to Featherpaw,” he said truthfully, with a bit of venom in his voice. If Darkstripe had his memories, he would probably already know that he had been reborn and understand why he was being hostile.

If he didn’t, well, that was the main reason Firepaw had put on his little display with Whitefur before the ceremony.

Darkstripe sniffed, most likely taken aback by the apprentice’s bold words, “I thought you said you were talking to your friends.”

“I did,” Firepaw hissed, “I couldn’t find you after I came back, so I asked Willowpelt if I could go with her.”

Darkstripe sighed in exasperation and slight amusement, an action that made Firepaw blink in surprise. Was this the same cat who he had known when he had first been introduced into Thunderclan?

With a jolt, he remembered. Darkstripe had been hostile to him the first time he had been an apprentice because he _wasn’t clanborn._ Now that he was, he might well be exposed to a completely different Darkstripe. He didn’t know whether Darkstripe’s loyalty had been entirely with Thunderclan at all during his life, but this could be an opportunity.

If Darkstripe hadn’t been reborn or sent back or _whatever_ was happening with these Dark Forest cats, then maybe Firepaw could bring him to their side.

For the second time in as many minutes, Firepaw found himself jolted out of his thoughts by Darkstripe speaking, “we’re meeting Tigerclaw, Redtail, and their apprentices today for a border patrol along the Riverclan border.”

As the dark-furred warrior turned towards the entrance and began to walk, Firepaw was left blinking in surprise. He gave himself a shake after a few seconds and hurried to catch up, “I thought new apprentices were given a tour of the territory on their first time out of camp,” he pointed out.

Darkstripe blinked apologetically, “Redtail wanted warriors to go with him on a patrol near the Riverclan border to make sure they haven’t been up to anything lately, but there was hardly any cats in camp because Bluestar, Lionblaze and Whitestorm were out on a…” he glanced at the apprentice as if gauging Firepaw’s trustworthiness, “…mission.”

Firepaw snorted slightly, _he doesn’t know where they’ve gone but he doesn’t want to admit that to me._

Darkstripe was still talking, “Riverclan are unlikely to cause trouble after the last dispute, so Redtail decided to allow apprentices to come along,” Firepaw wrinkled his nose in confusion. He’d been in the clans for a very long time, and not once had he ever heard of apprentices being taken on a possibly dangerous border patrol on their first time out of camp.

Looking back made him see why. When he was an apprentice, Thunderclan had been very short on warriors. He hadn’t noticed this because he had been too busy being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of cats in his new home, a number far above anything he’d ever experienced before in twolegplace.

But still. This was a border patrol along the Riverclan border. A clan which currently was not-

_Hold on a second!_

Firepaw suddenly stopped, his front paw not even going to the ground from where he had been halfway through a step.

“Firepaw? Are you ok?” Darkstripe turned around to see his apprentice still frozen in time, eyes darting from left to right as he tried to think of a way his previous thought could be proven wrong.

Firepaw glanced at him, “are we going to be going to Sunningrocks?” he asked tentatively.

Darkstripe shrugged, “yes. Why?”

 _I can’t tell anyone where I came from. It’s far too soon,_ Firepaw thought in panic. He frantically searched around for an excuse as to why he was so panicked about a seemingly harmless area of the territory.

“Isn’t- isn’t that one of the areas which Riverclan is most likely to fight over?” he pointed out, inwardly wincing at how cowardly he was sounding.

“Yes,” Darkstripe said, “but it’s part of our territory, and we can’t just ignore it. Now _come on,_ or we’ll be late,” his voice was taking on a hint of impatience by now.

It took them a few more minutes to reach the place where they were apparently meeting up with the other warriors. It didn’t take long for Redtail to come into view, Firepaw’s gaze instantly drawn to him as his mind went into overdrive trying to figure out how he was going to get everyone out of _this_ one alive.

 _What are they thinking?_ Firepaw wondered, _I’m not exactly a normal apprentice, but they don’t know that. When_ I _was leader, I wouldn’t even have_ dreamed _of allowing a six-moon-old apprentice onto a border patrol which could possibly be dangerous._

Whatever Redtail’s reasoning behind this decision, it had worked in Firepaw’s favour this once. Maybe now he could figure out how to save the two cats who had ended up dying in this battle.

 _If only it were that simple,_ he thought in frustration. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and he was going to have to watch his back if he wanted to have any chance of success. Tigerclaw was certainly not stupid enough to leave everything about his plan to murder Redtail the same as it had been originally.

In fact, he might not even do it at all. For all Firepaw knew, the target might now be on his own back.

He walked as far away from the Dark Forest cat as he could as the patrol trekked slowly along the Riverclan border, stopping every now and then to drop a scent marker. Firepaw noticed that the ‘older’ cats were apparently too tense to teach the younger apprentice how to do the scent markers. Somehow, this put him on edge more than all his knowledge from his previous life could have.

 _Why did they bring me along?_ He wondered again. The pieces just weren’t falling into place. He was sure that someone had made a mistake. He could see Ravenpaw padding along, and even that was a strange decision for older warriors to make. Apprentices shouldn’t be on a mission like this one.

He got his answer a few minutes later when Redtail slowed to walk alongside Tigerstar and asked in a whisper just loud enough for Firepaw to catch, “are you _sure_ Bluestar said to bring Firepaw along?”

Firepaw had to put a lot of effort in to keep himself from stumbling. So Tigerstar _was_ planning something. His breathing began to quicken in confusion, worry, and yes, fear. He wasn’t ready for his second life to end yet. Although the thought of going through the whole timeline again made his fur stand on end and a feeling of dread to settle in his stomach, he just _couldn’t_ die yet.

The other three reborn leaders had trouble getting along without someone to keep the peace, and he shuddered at the thought of what might happen if the mission they had been sent on failed.

And Tigerstar wouldn’t have risked tricking Redtail into bringing him along if he wasn’t planning to kill him.

To Firepaw’s complete and utter surprise, Darktail picked up on his fear-scent and walked closer to him so that their pelts were brushing, “don’t worry,” he assured him, “Riverclan isn’t going to do anything today. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

Firepaw could have said a lot of things. He could have asked why, if that was true, was everybody acting like the sky was going to fall on them? He could have pointed out that it wasn’t Riverclan that he was worried about and told his new mentor everything. But instead of saying any of those things, he nodded tightly and tried hard to behave like a newly made apprentice who was desperate to prove himself.

He couldn’t show weakness now. Not in front of Tigerclaw. Not when Darkstripe possibly knew the truth about the reborn warriors.

The patrol of cats approached Sunningrocks silently. Now Firepaw could feel the tension in the air, so thick that he felt like he could slice it with one of his claws if he felt the need to. Darkstripe didn’t say anything else, instead speeding up slightly so that he could walk beside Tigerclaw.

Firepaw still didn’t trust Darkstripe, but he felt the loss of his mentor all the same.

“What’s that?” Ravenpaw’s voice sounded shaky and unsure, but it rang out clearly through the tense silence. Firepaw felt his fur stand on end at the sudden noise.

Ravenpaw was staring out at the river, tail twitching in confusion.

Tigerclaw turned towards him, every muscle displaying (fake) alertness, “what’s what?”

Ravenpaw cringed slightly at his mentor’s voice, but only took a few seconds to respond, “I think I just saw-” he broke off, his eye’s widening with dawning realisation.

And that’s when the first Riverclan warrior burst from the river.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of a cliffie, I know. Part two is coming (I'll try not to take three months this time).  
> Thanks for reading! Please leave a review. They're extremely helpful.


	7. The Sunningrocks Incident- Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blackkit and Stonekit get a sign from Starclan meanwhile Firekit tries to take part in the Sunningrocks battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone getting tired of waiting months for an update and then seeing an apology every single time? I am. From now on I'll try go update a bit quicker. It's not even that I had writer's block this time. This chapter has been written, edited and ready to go for over a month now. I just completely forget that I wrote it.
> 
> That's good, isn't it? I've gotten to the point where I'm forgetting about 2,000 word chapters which I spent hours planning and writing.
> 
> Okay... Small problem. I haven't read any of the books which shows the Sunningrocks battle except Into the Wild, and I think I even managed to mess that one up. So I made up my own version of the Sunningrocks battle.

“I have a horrible feeling that something is terribly wrong,” Blackkit started in surprise and turned towards Stonekit, who had spoken.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“With the kits who just got made apprentices,” the other ‘kit’ responded, tail lashing slightly, “I just… I-” he broke off and glanced at his ‘brother’, realising how he sounded. He then shook his head and looked away, “it’s nothing.”

Blackkit didn’t press for further information, but the other cat’s words did cause a feeling of dread to begin working its way through his body. Firepaw wouldn’t have been stupid enough to go off alone with Darkstripe, would he?

The two of them sat in silence for a while, Blackkit trying to block out the sound of Stonekit obsessively scratching at a rock.

_Screeeeech. Screeeeeeeeeeech._

“Will you stop that?” he snapped, finally reaching the end of his tether.

“Just go somewhere else,” Stonekit suggested tensely, still running his claws over the surface of the pebble.

“Why don’t you just stop scratching the rock?” Blackkit retorted, cursing himself for _yet again_ acting like a kit. Honestly! It was no wonder that Mistypaw and Onekit were fed up of him and Firepaw.

Stonekit shrugged, “you’re the one who’s getting really annoyed,” he pointed out.

Blackkit let out a growl and decided to push down the overwhelming amount of kitness that he had been given and be the bigger cat. He got to his feet and stormed away, making sure to ‘accidentally’ knock the pebble from Stonekit’s paws.

“Now, that is just petty,” his ‘brother’ called after him. Blackkit had to agree.

Five minutes. Blackkit could go five whole minutes without being bothered by this idiot reborn cat who thought he was his brother. He’d just been settling down for a nap (a kit’s body needed an annoying amount of rest, even if the mind who was trapped in it very much wanted to do something other than sleep) when Stonekit had come bounding up and hissed, “Blackkit! Blackkit! I just got a sign from Starclan!”

He tiredly looked into the serious eyes of the former Riverclan warrior, wondering if he should leap into action and ask if he had found out the secret or just laugh. He settled for a grumpy-sounding, “no, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did,” Stonekit insisted firmly, “and we need to go rescue Firepaw.”

Internally, Blackkit sighed angrily. Out loud he just said, “no, we don’t.”

“I’m being serious,” a hint of hurt slipped into Stonekit’s expression, “do you not believe me?”

“Stonekit,” Blackkit said slowly, “if you recall, you once tricked every kit in the nursery into thinking that you got a sign from Starclan saying we should attack Windclan _all by ourselves._ We almost ran away from camp and ended up being stuck in the nursery for an entire moon.”

“It was fun, though,” Stonekit pointed out, muzzle wrinkling slightly as he tried to hide his purrs of amusement at the memory. He quickly sobered, “Blackkit you have to believe me. I think Firepaw and Darkstripe are in danger!”

Blackkit sighed again, “what did you see?”

Stonekit shuddered, making Blackkit wonder if he really was telling the truth, “I-I saw- I think I saw Sunningrocks.”

“Sunningrocks?” Blackkit’s ears pricked, instantly alert. There was no way Stonekit could have randomly picked that spot, at this time. He began to consider taking this seriously.

But why would Starclan send a sign to _Stonekit?_ Stonekit wasn’t supposed to know about his previous life yet.

“And I smelled Riverclan,” Stonekit continued, “and I heard Firepaw screeching, but I couldn’t see him. And then I heard someone say, ‘you have to save him, Stonekit. You’re his only hope’.”

“Mouse-dung!” Blackkit cursed, leaping to his feet. How could Firepaw have been so stupid? How did he not realise where the patrol was going before this happened to him?

“Uh… Blackkit?” he looked up, realising Stonekit was still staring at him, “does this mean you believe me?”

Blackkit nearly smashed his head against the floor, “yes, mouse-brain, it does. Now let’s go and rescue Firepaw before he gets turned into crow-food.”

Bemused but overall happy about Blackkit’s sudden shift in attitude towards his warning, Stonekit followed him as he padded out of the nursery.

“By ourselves?” he questioned, a slight hint of doubt creeping into his eyes.

As much as Blackkit would love for a patrol of experienced warriors to head out to save Firepaw’s life instead of himself and a… well, basically a kit, he did not look forward to explaining why he was convinced that Stonekit’s vision was a prophecy and not a fresh kill-induced hallucination.

“Do you want to explain to Bluestar why you think you got a message from Starclan instead of Spottedleaf?” he asked.

Stonekit instantly shook his head, “no,” he said, “but I don’t want either of us to be explaining to her that the other died after we decided to head out on a little mission because I had a dream.”

 _For the love of Starclan, Blackkit,_ Blackkit thought to himself angrily, _how is it that you’re the one who remembers your dozens of moons of experience, and yet he’s the sensible one? You can’t head out of camp to fight a whole patrol of Riverclan warriors in a kit’s body with only another kit to provide support!_

Still, it wasn’t like he could get any of the warriors to accompany him out of camp, “maybe you should stay here,” he suggested to Stonekit.

“Absolutely not!” the former Riverclan warrior protested, eyes instantly lighting up with cold determination, “you’re not leaving me behind.”

Blackkit sighed. They didn’t have time to argue, “fine,” he said against his better judgement, “but- but we’ve got to be careful.”

“Oh, you thought I was going to go charging over to Sunningrocks and try to fight the entirety of Riverclan?” Stonekit replied angrily, “really, Blackkit? I do sometimes wonder if you think I’m an idiot.”

“You would be correct,” Blackkit snapped, “now, come on, we’re wasting time.”

The two kits snuck out of camp through the thorn barrier (with a lot of complaining from Stonekit and some complaining from Blackkit) and briskly set off in a random direction.

It did not take them long to realise that neither of them had any idea where they were going.

“Surely we just follow the smell of fish,” Stonekit suggested optimistically.

“Yeah?” Blackkit retorted, “Well that might work if we could actually smell any fish.”

“Never underestimate a Thunderclan cat’s nose,” said the other cat.

Blackkit snorted softly, “we don’t have any with us.”

The look Stonekit sent him made him instantly realise his slip-up.

“I mean…” he said quickly, “we hardly count as cats. We’re kits.”

Stonekit’s strange look didn’t subside, “why do I get the feeling that you forgot which clan you were for a moment there?”

Blackkit sighed and searched for a way to change the subject, “hey,” he called up his minimal knowledge of the old Thunderclan territories, “I get the feeling it’s this way.”

“How do you know?”

“I _said_ I had a _feeling.”_

“Alright, alright. Keep your fur on.”

…

At first, Firepaw felt the thrill of battle as the Riverclan warriors charged towards them. Keyword being ‘at first’. You see, while having knowledge of battle tactics and moves was great, it wasn’t much help when you were used to being twice the size and having actual muscles.

He found himself instantly regretting his decision to ignore Darkstripe’s order of, “get out of here, Firepaw,” in favour of throwing himself at one of the massive cats who were currently attacking his clan.

Big mistake.

The huge warrior bowled him over like he weighed nothing more than a feather, and Firepaw quickly noticed the fact that he had just attacked Leopardstar. Or Leopard _fur._

“What’s this?” she hissed, “Thunderclan has so few warriors that they would send a _kit_ into battle?”

He snarled and managed to rake his claws across one of her forelegs. She barely noticed the scratch and instead used her own claws to tear into one of his ears. It could hardly be counted as an injury, but Firepaw was in a kit’s body and felt the pain as any normal kit would.

She had gone easy on him, he knew, but he still judged it best to bolt into the undergrowth the moment he was released.

 _I can’t run away,_ he thought determinedly, _I have to save Oakheart and Redtail._

His eyes quickly found the two deputies. Great! They were near each other. All he had to do was remain in that general area and try to anticipate when the rockfall was going to take Oakheart.

He ran back into the battle, weaving desperately through warriors who could probably crush him under one paw if they noticed him. Instead of fighting like he would have in his past life, Firepaw kept his claws to himself and focused on making it to Oakheart before it was too late.

Suddenly, a warrior flung himself into Firepaw’s path, causing him to come skidding to a halt. It took a moment to realise that it was just Darkstripe. He ducked his head in shame, realising that he was probably in a bit of trouble.

“Did you not hear me, Firepaw,” Darkstripe seemed equally surprised to see him here, “I said to get out of here.”

“I want to fight!” he said in frustration.

“Firepaw-” Darkstripe was cut off when a Riverclan warrior slammed into his side. Firepaw couldn’t recognise who it was.

He found himself charging towards the two cats before he could even give it a moment’s thought. He managed to land on Darkstripe’s opponent’s back, scratching and clawing at all the fur he could find. The warrior struggled as the tiny claws dug into his fur, but the moment he saw that it was a small apprentice, he easily flung Firepaw off and continued fighting Darkstripe, who had taken advantage of the momentary distraction.

Firepaw landed on his side, hard. The breath was knocked out of him and he lay there for a moment, wheezing in pain. He was sure that one of his legs had been twisted awkwardly under him when he’d landed, and when he tried to sit up the same limb sent a shock of pain.

 _Great, now I’ve probably sprained my ankle,_ he thought, struggling to his paws, and doing his best to ignore the agony shooting up his leg.

But apparently it was impossible for Firepaw to get a moment’s break. Suddenly, something grabbed hold of him by the back of his neck and he was dragged along. He struggled, letting out an ear-splitting yowl and trying desperately to reach his attacker. He stopped when his leg once again warned him that something was wrong.

He was dropped a safe distance away from the battle. He twisted his neck as best he could to see that Darkstripe had been the one to drag him there, “go back to camp,” his mentor hissed, anger in his eyes.

Firepaw narrowed his eyes at him, “but-”

“ _Now_ , Firepaw. Tell Bluestar what’s happening. You’ll be helping if you get reinforcements, I promise,” and without waiting for Firepaw to give any sort of response, he turned and headed back to the battle.

 _I have to save Oakheart and Redtail,_ but even as the words came into his head, the pain from his leg combined with the disheartening experience of being completely helpless in that battle gave him pause.

“Oakheart!” the yowl came from Sunningrocks. He turned back towards it in horror.

The rocks at the edge of Sunningrocks had crumbled. He was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the little Blackkit and Stonekit section at the beginnning. I had a lot of fun writing about them.
> 
> For the next chapter, I was thinking of taking a little break from the Sunningrocks incident, as fun as it is, and maybe checking in with one of the other groups of reborn cats. I'm not sure which one, but I have ideas for all of them. If anyone wants to request any of them, that would be great because I honestly have no idea which one to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this story is just for fun (obviously. It's fanfiction. People write fanfiction for fun) so a lot of the reasons for the plot points might boil down to 'I like it that way'.
> 
> I made up some queens because there weren't enough for what I wanted to do, which was not have a queen have a litter of seven, and I also realised that Thunderclan only has about eight warriors in Into the Wild. So I'll have to either change that or make it a plot point that there aren't enough mentors for all the reborn apprentices. Does anyone know if the Into the Wild allegiances include every warrior? I might have to make up some more.
> 
> I didn't want to change the appearances of the cats that were being reborn because it would get confusing (I probably shouldn't have chosen 13 characters), but I couldn't have them be identical to their past selves if they had one. So I changed the appearances and names of their past selves, basically creating characters whose actions would match up with what happened in the original story.
> 
> It's still going to be confusing, isn't it?
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be a bit longer.


End file.
